About

To Adrien, this evening is a nightmare. During a family dinner he finds out that he will have to make a speech at his sister’s wedding. The main character is a neurotic, he is 35 years old and undergoing a major crisis. A girl with whom he has just split up refuses to answer his texts and his relatives focus on ridiculous conversations. Whose thoughts wouldn’t go wandering at a family meeting like this?

The Speech is based on the bestselling Le Discours by Fabrice Caro. Directed by Laurent Tirard, the popular director of Little Nicholas and Up for Love, the film is not like most classic French comedies. Here, the nostalgia and aversion to the rules that govern the contemporary world are the dominating topics. From the very first scene we find ourselves in the microcosm of Adrien who follows Shakespeare’s idea that “life is a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”. Tirard tells the story by means of short, funny real-life situations. This way he describes his characters’ temperaments and uncertainties that bother them. The Allen-like narrative is complemented by a tinge of reflection.

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